


Dwemers guide to curing corprus

by Violyd



Category: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Genre: Dwemer - Freeform, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21606361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violyd/pseuds/Violyd
Summary: after all this time Yagrum Bagarn finally finds another Dwemer, well they found him. after questioning his own sanity it seems things are finally turning up. it's time to escape this terrible place, and maybe he can finally be rid of this terrible disease.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Holiday TES Fanfic Fest!





	1. escape the tower

As the ash vampire and the Telvanni Divayth Fyr clashed in the tower above her, the Dwemer girl descended into one of the cruel wizard's labs. She prayed for Nerlic’s safety, if rumors served well, this mer could be exceptionally horrible to deal with. But he had sounded confident as he had broken down the door to the tower and allowed her entry to the prison Divayth kept beneath his home. The stench of rot made her sick to her stomach, she tried to keep her head high and eyes peeled. The one she sought out would be here, she could feel it. The sick and maddened prisoners mostly stared at her with eyeless faces. Some ambled about without purpose, a couple startled her as they ran up to her or raced past her, some that could speak spoke of strange nothings she didn’t comprehend. And she found that many of the poor men and mer who were stuck here looked nothing like they must have before the blight touched them.  


How the sight of this horrific laboratory frightened her, and after seeing so many victims that appeared to have lost themselves to the divine disease, she was starting to lose hope, even if she found the old mer she was hoping too, would he even recognize her? Or would he be as mindless as the rest of the prisoners in this place? How long had he been infected? How long could the Dwemer fight such a violent illness without going mad? She had half a mind to turn around, had not she still heard the distinct sound of spells flying above her head and the muffled shouts of battle.  


But then, a spark of hope lit once more, the sound of metal gears, the hammering of metal into shape, something once so very familiar to the Dwemer as a child, the clicking of machinery. Her eyes lit in recognition, ahead of her a light, flickering slightly, but present. She quickened her steps until she appeared before the opening. There she finally found who she had lost hope in finding. She was silent at first, unsure if she was truly looking upon the mer she thought she was. How different he appeared compared to how she remembered him. Eras had passed, corpus riddled his body, he didn’t even have legs anymore, but he had crafted his own to get by, he was currently tinkering with the tool he was attempting to fix, grunting slightly in frustration as his damaged fingers refused to obey commands once so familiar to them. They just didn’t function as they used to it seemed.  


Dadryna gulped nervously, he hadn’t noticed her presence yet and she felt guilty just gawking at the poor mer, but she couldn’t think of any proper greeting, and correct words to announce her presence, not any that would be adequate to express what she felt right now. But then the old architect turned his head catching a glimpse of his visitor in the less than optimal light.  


“Hm? Who goes there, Divayth is that you? No, no, who are you? Come closer please, my eyes aren’t like they used to be,” he called from his little workshop.  


Dadryna froze for a second before stepping forward.  


“Yagrum… is that you? One of Kagrenacs former architects?” She asked, her voice a bit shaky, oh why did she go and ask that? Of course, it was him! There was no one else it could be.  


The spider legged Dwemer squinted and came a little closer to the girl. “Now how did you know that then-?” he muttered slightly before recognizing some peculiar features of the relatively young-looking woman. Stone grey skin, aetherial colored eyes, black brass beaded hair, the recognizable click of metal prosthetic legs. Those once engineered eras ago. And the voice, yes that voice so eerily familiar. Didn’t it belong to that little dwarf he remembered running around the old city when his people were still around, Kagrenac’s little girl? But he scoffed a bit laughing at his foolishness. Was this it? His once logical mind, the last piece of his body he could trust as the rest of him corrupted from blight, he was seeing things, he was the last Dwemer after all.  


“Ah, I see, so the time has finally come, I’ve truly gone mad, I had hoped that this day wouldn’t come so so-”  


But the ill Dwemers monologue was cut off from a short sob from the woman, who wiped at her eyes with one arm.  


“No, no, you are far from mad sir, I-I know it sounds impossible, but I’m real. It’s me, Dadryna, daughter of Kagrenac. Y-you, remember me, don’t you?… I swear you aren’t seeing things, sir, I’m here,” she said in a desperate plea that was hard to pass off as a mere illusion.  


The Mer was taken off guard for a moment, his many legs taking a step or two back.  


“Why? By the twelve tones? Dadry? How are you here? Where in Oblivion did you come from, little one? Well no, you most certainly aren’t a little girl anymore, are you? I-I apologize for the harshness of my greeting Lil Dadry, but ever since your mother struck that heart and I returned to an empty citadel--I just couldn’t believe my eyes. You must know how this nasty disease works right? Corpus? Muddles the body and the mind, I thought you were just an illusion, a trick of the light if you will.” He sighed scratching his chin as he thought. “Well I’m more than happy to know I’ve not lost my marbles just yet, and to think that after all my years searching for any sign of survivors it would be you that shows up to find me. I’m glad you’ve been safe Dadry, but you know… I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but this place isn’t exactly safe for someone like yourself, from what I can tell you’re all perfectly healthy. It’s far too easy to catch the blight and by the twelve tones the last thing I want is someone like you suffering like me.”  


Dadryna gulped. “And that is why I’m here Yagrum… I came to get you out of this place… when- when I caught wind of the rumors, I- I just had to see if they were true, and I’m so happy I found you, but I can’t in good conscience just, leave you here with this wicked mer? Like some puppet--my friend is distracting him right now, we just need to find a way for you to get out! Is there any back entrance? Something? Or-”  


Yagrum frowned stroking his beard in thought, “Listen, I know you are Kagrenac’s girl, and I can see how much your worrying right now, but I’m sick kiddo. As much as I would love to join you, I don’t think I can, nor do I think I should, I’ll end up infecting others. Why, I could even get you or whoever that friend of yours is up in the tower.”  


Dadry shook her head  


“Oh--trust me you really don’t have to worry too much about my friend--and I, I have my ways of keeping safe, please just trust me. I want to help you, and if we work together, maybe we can finally find a cure for this damned disease… and if you spoke to my aunt or any of my uncles, their blessings can stave off the effects of the disease, I will find a way to help you if you just let me.”  


She glanced back at the hallway nervously, she was running low on time… they would need to move quickly.  


“Yagrum, please, come with us,” she said quietly.  


Time was ticking away and the elder Dwemer architect let out a sigh of defeat, seemed the girl had her mother's stubbornness. There would be no convincing Dadryna to let him stay put. And to let her down now after she came this far just to see him? It would be rude to turn her offer away.  


“Alright Dadry, you’ve convinced an old architect to try his hand at freedom one more time. But, you promise me Dadry, if things get out of hand, if it gets too dangerous for you to help me, I want you to run. It’s not your responsibility to protect an old man like myself, you take care of yourself first. If I become a danger, I do not want to hurt you.”  


He picked up some of his tools from the table he was working at.  


“You won’t, I give you my word Mr.Bagarn. We’ll find a cure for this. For now, let’s just focus on getting out. I have three scrolls of recall, it will take you out of the village. Now go, I will be right behind you, I promise.”  


She handed him the sealed parchment and held her breath as he looked it over.  


“For both of our sakes kiddo, I hope you know what you're doing…”  


With that said the Dwemer architect broke the seal and disappeared to a point just outside the Telvanni village. After Dadryna called up to her friend in the upper tower, she too broke the seal of the second scroll and joined the now free architect.


	2. strange friends and refuge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yagrum realizes who, or rather what helped save him from tel Fyr, and finally gets a chance to speak more with the only other survivor of his people.

It was a few minutes of uncertainty for the old architect as he waited for the girl to reappear. He hoped she was alright? He had assumed she would be following just behind him but she was taking a while. He recalled her mentioning a friend, perhaps she was waiting for them? He tried to remain patient but with each passing moment, he was worried he would be found. 

Just when he was ready to think of leaving and finding a place to hide there was another flash, Dadryna appeared catching her breath as another mer with vivid red hair was holding his side which looked slightly burnt. She turned to the mer addressing his wound but he gave a breathy assurance he would be fine. Sure enough without even a hint of magic, the burns seemed to mend themselves. Now that there was clear sunlight Yagrum was able to see much more clearly. Dadryna satisfied that her companion would be ok finally turned back to him. 

“Yagrum, I would like you to meet my friend, Nerlic, I am not sure if you met in the first era, but he helped me to break you out of the tower.”

“Nerlic eh? I heard that name before wasn’t he one of them Dagoth’s you were always pla-” Yagrum paused as he got a good look at the mer who Dadry Claimed helped to rescue him and his eyes widened, he took Dadryna’s hand and pulled her back. 

“Dadry! He’s one of them! Are you mad girl? He could kill you!” Yagrum tried to warn her. He was honestly scared for the poor womer. How had she not noticed yet? He even had the eyes! But Dadry shook her head. She squeezed the older mers hand gently before pulling away. 

“Yagrum I know, It’s ok, he won’t hurt me, he won’t hurt you either, he only came to help, he’s a friend,” she assured calmly, by the tones she sounded a lot like her mother now. 

“You may think that dear, I thought the Dagoths were friends too and look what became of me, do you wish to end up like this? because I assure you, trusting the ash creatures is a one-way ticket to corprus, I’m living proof of it.”

“Yagrum please trust me, trust me a little longer, it’s going to be fine, I’m fine, I can explain more about what is happening later, but we need to leave before fyr finds us, we must hurry.” Dadry pleaded once more, with a shaky sigh and a cautious look at the ash creature who was currently washing the rest of the ash off his nearly healed wound, Yagrum gave a small nod. 

“for now I will trust you, but if he tries anything funny…” he decided not to finish the statement, he wasn’t going to give the creature following them any ideas.

“I know, I know, now we need to go.” Dadryna sighed pinching the bridge of her nose and wading through some shallow water where she had hidden a boat among some tall ferns. she realized this wouldn’t be easy but with some very careful maneuvering, she managed to help Bagarn into the small boat. She had managed to create a makeshift engine and reinforce the hull with metal, she had certainly been learning since the time he last saw her. 

It was short while later when they finally reached the main coast of Vvardenfell, Red Mountains plumes looked more foreboding than the tonal architect remembered but he tried to not think of it as he turned his attention back to Dadryna who had finally managed to leave the boat. Once upon dry land, she got to wringing out her robes and trying to get grit from out of the gears and seams on her legs. 

“Dadryna thank you for taking me from that place, you really didn’t have to do this but, I am grateful,” he said quietly. Dadry looked up with a small nod. 

“I couldn’t leave you there, not with a clear conscience. I’m glad I was able to find you. And don’t worry there isn’t much more traveling to do, It’s not much farther, I set up in some old ruins nearby. 

Yagrum could see the tower from where they were at the coast, Dadry lead them to the door which she opened easily and they went inside. Despite the rugged exterior and crumbling towers, Dadryna had managed to get the automatons back to work fixing broken areas and reinforcing weakened structures. She even had the electricity and steam running throughout the stronghold. He was impressed she managed to fix this place so well on her own.

“Feels like home, You’ve done a lot of work Dadry. How long have you been here?” he asked curiously finally feeling a little at ease now that the surroundings seemed more familiar. 

“in the tower? About a year. But if you mean where I came from, I been in Mournhold for many eras. I lived in the temple, hidden on Almalexias order for my own safety, A while ago I ran away and I returned to Morrowind about a year and a half ago. Nerlic has been keeping me company. ” Dadry said as she fiddled with some switches and buttons, sending orders to another part of the facility.

“But where did you go when everyone disappeared? How did you escape dear?”

“I’m afraid I don’t really know, while the heart affected me, I didn’t vanish like the others. The heart changed me, I was made stronger, it gave me powers I struggled to come to terms with, and it froze me in time. I went many years unable to age, until recently when I went off on my own, it wasn’t until I left that I started to age once more.” she explained.

“so you’ve been there this entire time, I’m sorry I never found you, I could have saved you the trouble of rescuing me.” he wondered why he hadn’t searched Mournhold, or maybe he did, his memory was foggy in certain areas, he had been to so many places searching for his people, he never thought one of the people from his own clan would be hidden in plain sight.

“Don’t blame yourself Yagrum, you couldn’t have known, and I had no way of knowing you were here either, it was all based upon rumors that I came to learn of your presence here and where you were being kept,” she said. As she spoke a centurion entered the room with a couple of cups with warmed tea. 

“here, you’re safe now, relax, that was the past. It’s time to focus on the future. I’ve been hard at work on more than just this little tower.” she said as she took a sip of her beverage.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to Rhi for helping me with editing this in time to post for the fic fest! I wish all the other participants happy writing and can't wait to see everyone else's submissions!
> 
> also even though this was only a submission for the fic fest I plan on continuing this story, it just turned out larger then I imagined. this is only gonna be the first part!


End file.
